Oiling my auto with 40 year old gun oil?

Had to fly in to see Dad with only carryon luggage - so I couldn't bring my gun. When I arrived, Dad issued me the Kel-Tec p11 I gave him so I can ccw (legally) while I'm here in Alabama. Dad's not as conscientious as I am so I wanted to oil the thing. The oil he pointed me to is from a gun cleaning kit that is clearly circa 1970. Has the yellow tin box and everything, ha.

I can't see any reason it won't work. What say you?

If you enjoyed reading about "Oiling my auto with 40 year old gun oil?" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version!

powwowell

August 21, 2009, 10:10 AM

I say, Oil Away.

kimbernut

August 21, 2009, 10:16 AM

I'm sure it is fine but there are better oils/CLPs available today. Sounds like a good opportunity for a Christmas or birthday gift of a new really nice up to date cleaning kit.

sokygunner

August 21, 2009, 01:49 PM

Gun oil doesn't have an expiration date on the bottle for a reason...its oil...it doesn't expire.

BMF500

August 21, 2009, 01:56 PM

Oil doesn't expire or break down in the bottle. Only when exposed to extreme heat for extended periods of time, like 3000+ miles in an engine. And even then it really hasn't broken down that much, it's more "dirty" from carbon deposits off the cylider walls.

Lakeshore

August 21, 2009, 02:11 PM

That oil was already about 50 million years old when it went into the bottle.

Mad Magyar

August 21, 2009, 03:34 PM

Has the yellow tin box and everything, ha.

Seriously, I have the same yellow box....Old & vintage...One of the oils was in a small tin....:) Anyway, your pistol won't know the difference...

Dr_2_B

August 21, 2009, 06:13 PM

O jeez, Mad, if you have the same tin box, you're as bad a packrat as my old man. I feel sorry for your wife.

;)

Lonestar49

August 21, 2009, 06:21 PM

That oil was already about 50 million years old when it went into the bottle.

...

Got to love the_facts.. as mathematics don't lie, lol

Ls

The Lone Haranguer

August 21, 2009, 08:35 PM

As long as the bottle/can has not been left open it should be OK. The oil may have carrier or solvent ingredients that will evaporate and leave congealed oil if exposed to air for a long period of time.

SlamFire1

August 21, 2009, 09:56 PM

The oil he pointed me to is from a gun cleaning kit that is clearly circa 1970. Has the yellow tin box and everything, ha.

I can't see any reason it won't work. What say you?

As long as it is not gummy, it will lubricate.

Forty year old gun oil is probably over priced plain mineral oil without any additives.

sohcgt2

August 22, 2009, 07:29 AM

That oil was already about 50 million years old when it went into the bottle.

I thought it spoiled at 50,000,039 years old

atomd

August 22, 2009, 07:54 AM

A lot of these new types of gun lubrication products contain things other than just oil in them. Some of the things they add could fall out of suspension after a number of years, causing the product to not perform exactly as it was designed.

I'm no scientist but I heard that from an engineer at Mobil also (talking about using old motor oil).

pat701

September 6, 2009, 04:16 PM

Don't be cheap buy some NEW oil. You can afford it!!!!!

Peter M. Eick

September 9, 2009, 01:58 PM

As a geologist/geophysicist for a major oil company, I can say that some oil is pretty young, say less then a million years give or take and some can be quite old, in the range of 320 million that I can think of. I know I have handled oil from the PC which was about 1200 million years old but it was pretty nasty stuff.

One of the problems we worry about is not the age of the source rocks but the time of generation.

As an observation, older oils (time of generation) tend to be a more heavy and dirty and some of the more recent stuff tends to be pretty clean and nice.

As for the topic at hand, just use the oil. I remember for years I used to oil my handguns with the oil out of the dipstick of the car or tractor. I still use those guns and they are none the worse for wear.

Hokkmike

September 9, 2009, 02:06 PM

Cheap and easy enough to replace, right?

Dr_2_B

September 13, 2009, 09:54 AM

I used to oil my handguns with the oil out of the dipstick of the car or tractor. I still use those guns and they are none the worse for wear.

Ha. You're killing me. We on THR and other sites talk about the minutia of bullet grains and stuff and here's a geophysicist using oil out of a tractor & it works just fine.

Peter M. Eick

September 13, 2009, 10:44 AM

Heck, most of my guns are far older then 40 years. The bulk of my collection is from pre-1960.

Those of us who have been around a bit, probably don't remember all of the CLP's and Wonderlubes back then. I seem to remember sewing machine oil, 3 in 1 oil and motor oil. Not much else to speak of around the house. 3 in 1 oil was pretty good stuff, but you could always get oil out of the tractor or the car if you needed it for the guns or the bike.

What is interesting is that my pre-WWII revolvers are in such great shape without ever having been lubed with some military grade wonder lube. It makes one ponder...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/3844hd_target.jpg

Here is a nice april 1930 Heavy duty (50 shots at 15 yrds by the way). The revolver looks in pretty nice shape for never having been oiled with anything like CLP or some wonderlube.

If you enjoyed reading about "Oiling my auto with 40 year old gun oil?" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version!